Destinies Entwined
by Kin-outcast1
Summary: ... but never met. A series of drabbles.
1. Another Love Story

He was just a boy when he first saw her. He'd picked her out of so many others, for reasons inexplicable until he'd gotten the chance to look her over. She was beautiful. By all that was holy, she was so beautiful. Every part of her was perfect, just what he'd always wanted.

And when times got hard, and there was no place to stay, he would go out and sleep by the wharf with her shape black against the moonlit sky. She guarded him, and he promised her, _"I will captain you, Pearl. I swear it. One day you will be mine."_


	2. Tragedy

"Elizabeth … may I speak with you a moment?"

"Why, of course."

"I couldn't help but notice …" stammering. "Recently … well, you see, your attitude on certain subjects .."

"Subjects, Father?"

"Yes. Elizabeth. You are … a fine lady."

"Uh, Father …"

"He is just a blacksmith."

Silence. "If you mean William Turner –"

"I do. I'm your father, I can see the way you look at him. A fine lady such as yourself deserves a fine future, and a fine man. Someone like … James Norrington."

"Norring …?"

" A relationship with William Turner can only end in tragedy."

Silence. "Of course." Emotionless. "Of course, Father."


	3. Bad Luck

Not for the first time, Elizabeth wondered if it was her.

Because every man she knew, every man she touched … had been destroyed. The ocean had taken them, one by one. First it had been Jack, swallowed into the sea by the Kraken after the traitorous pirate in Elizabeth's heart had driven her to leave him there. Then it had been her father, just a faraway form drifting further and further away _"I'm so proud of you, Elizabeth"_. Next was Norrington. James. Standing there like the very definition of honor after so many had let her down, sacrificing himself for her, kissing her with such exquisite gentleness she almost couldn't comprehend it. His shadow had disappeared, fallen, and gods, how helpless she had been.

And then there was Will. The last of them, the very last. Her beautiful blacksmith whose innocence had long since been tarnished, with that horrific blade buried in his chest. She had screamed for him, wept for him, and finally been ripped away from him. What was one fleeting day when she had wanted a lifetime? What was one goodbye kiss when she would spend the rest of her days utterly alone?

Perhaps those old pirate songs she used to sing so many years ago had held bad luck after all. She never should've sung them. She never should've had anything to do with pirates.


	4. Revenge

"Good morning, Captain. How'd ya sleep?"

_Not bloody well, thank you. _And he was bound. Damn it.

"Or should I be saying Captain? No, perhaps Governor would be more fittin', seein' as from now on you'll have an island all to yourself."

"You are a bloody mutineering bastard, Hector. _The Pearl_ is my ship."

"No, Jack. _The Pearl was _your ship. But just to show you what a merciful man I am, you'll be gettin' a pistol with one shot all your own, for when the heat gets to be too much for you. Get Jack a pistol!"

Traitorous faces and traitorous hands. And then the gun was in his hands, hard and cold, like revenge, as his crewmembers backed away from him again. "I am going to kill you with this gun, Hector. You'd best not doubt it."

"Sure you will, Jack. Now get off my ship." One mighty kick, a heavy splash, and Captain Sparrow did not touch _the Pearl _again for ten years.


	5. No Mirrors

When he walked, his tentacles dragged after him on the rotted floorboards. When he spoke, he spoke around the rotted flesh in his mouth, the stuff that contorted his insides just as much as his outsides. He never looked at his hands these days, for they were horribly distorted. It was a good thing there were no mirrors on _the Dutchman._

He knew it was all his own fault. The ocean was claiming him, twisting him, only because he had let it. Those dead souls who floated about ceaselessly on the dark waves, who sat in rickety rowboats, lanterns held high, and stared at him with haunted faces … he had abandoned them. Willingly and knowingly, he had stopped bringing them aboard, stopped bringing them to the other side. They were trapped in-between, just as he was. There would be no escape for them now, just like there was no escape for him.

Ever since that day. The day he sailed to the island and she wasn't there. He'd searched and searched, bare feet padding against the cool silk of forbidden sand.

And he found her.

She was dead.

She was dead, and he went on. And it was with that knowledge that William Turner let the ocean take him.


	6. Forgetting Pirates

"Mother, what did that man mean? You're a pirate king?"

"No. William. I said to drop the subject."

"But he was a pirate! I know about the brethren court, I've read about it. And if you're the pirate king that means …"

"William, how many times do I have to tell you _not _to read about pirates!"

"But why? It's not fair. You never tell me anything! You never talk about your life when you were little, or my father, or that key that you always wear around your neck! You _never _take it off. I've noticed."

"Well, I have also noticed, William. I've noticed what you do when you think my back is turned. Don't think I haven't seen you, standing at the wharf and watching the ships and looking for pirates even after I've told you to stay away from there. Speaking to the sailors. Asking about their ships. But _I don't want that for you. _You must forget pirates. You're going to stay in England, on solid land … you'll grow up and be a cooper or a tailor or – or a blacksmith …"

"Don't cry, Mother. I'm sorry. Please don't cry. I'll never bring it up again, I promise. I'm sorry, Mother …"


End file.
